With Sprint’s first foray into 4G perhaps now suitably behind them, they have hit the switch on their LTE network and can begin to try in earnest to catch up with Verizon and AT&T before T-Mobile can get in on the party next year.

Sprint is easing it’s way into things with less than a dozen areas being brought into the warm embrace of their LTE.

There have been isolated reports of LTE activity flickering in other areas, but this is it for the official lineup at the moment.

If you are one of the chosen few that is both in a Sprint LTE area and has an LTE handset (Galaxy Nexus, Viper, EVO 4G LTE, or Galaxy S III) we would love to see what kind of speeds you are pulling at the moment as you are probably looking at the best case scenario right now before everyone else starts piling on.

You can of course look forward to a turbo boost again next year when Sprint plans to bring LTE-Advanced to the table, which will be the first true 4G technology to hit the U.S. They won’t be alone with at least AT&T and T-Mobile having their sights set on a 2013 launch for their own LTE-Advanced efforts.

Finally, if you prefer to get your carrier news in cheesy video format I have some excellent news for you, Sprint made the following with you in mind.

Maybe Sprint will be a better company in 2014 and 2015.
But I need to make a call TODAY.

Bye, Sprint.

yankeesusa

What does data speeds have to do with making calls? Sprint is actually rated pretty high in voice quality and dropped calls. Let me put it this way, I haven’t had a dropped call with sprint for over 6 months. My friend with att has one or 2 a day. On verizon sometimes I get disconnected from my friend and he says his phone said “lost signal”. So data has nothing to do with calling.

txbluesman

Yeah, I had AT&T here in the Dallas area and dropped 40-50 calls a day. That just don’t cut it for business calls. I have Verizon and Sprint, they both perform very well here in the Dallas area. A few dropped on Verizon and pretty much never on Sprint. Around here, Big Red and The Now Network are the way to go.

snowbdr89

Hmm I’m with att and rarely drop calls !!

yankeesusa

What else are you expecting? Verizon has been working on their lte for the past couple of years. Sprint just started their lte network this year. Verizon didn’t get their lte network up in 1 year. Sprint had to switch from wimax to lte so in reality if sprint had their own towers that were running wimax they would probably be ahead of verizon. They just made a bad choice on partnership. Thats why now their lte network is theirs.

CTown

So, is Google going to sell us a $400 unlocked phone to take advantage of these speeds?

CTown

Is it possible to make a pure LTE device (no CDMA or GSM technologies which means VoLTE I guess) that works on all of our LTE using carriers? Is LTE-Advanced backwards compatible with LTE like HSPA+ is with HSPA?

yankeesusa

Why would you want an lte only phone? Lte is just beginning, if you didn’t have 3g in your phone you probably wouldn’t have any data in a lot of places plus your battery life would be horrible. And yes lte advanced will work with lte regular.

thel0nerang3r

Yes, it’s possible, but if you don’t have LTE coverage, you will have zero connection. Also, no one is doing VoLTE yet. So, voice calls are not going through LTE. There are tests going on, but it will probably (my guess) will be next spring until we see phones that can do it. You can add the radios for ever cell network in the world. However, that adds cost, hurts battery life and makes the phone more complicated.

Me

Why do people keep reporting that Austin has LTE… There is NO LTE in Austin.

I confirm there is no LTE in Austin itself. Sprint Speak Austin=Temple

Rob

Templeâ‰ Austin

Jeffrey

So when is it coming to Cali? Los Angeles? i can finally updated my phone from the Epic to GalaxyS3(LTE ready). But If I get the S3 I can only use 3g for now until Sprints flips the switch on their LTE network in Cali. I rather wait and keep my epic, cuz its 4G. What Gives yo?! I value my 4g very much!

thel0nerang3r

I would hold off if I were you. I live in the LA area. Wimax didn’t come here for a long time. I doubt that we will have LTE before the end of the year. Though for some of the areas that I visit, EVDO has improved. I”m getting 1 to 1.5Mbps in areas that I used to get 400Kbps. I was at Dodger stadium this past week and while it shows 4 to 5 bars, internet is useless. So, your mileage may vary.

Demetris

I’m not getting anything in San Antonio. I have the Evo.

thel0nerang3r

Rumor has it that you need to update your profile and PRL

fletchtb

Hey, it’s a start. Sprint had to start somewhere and now they have. This is good news for the people in the markets where Sprint is live with LTE. Those consumers now have a choice when it comes to LTE networks and it will only get better from here.

travismayes

Your 3 g is so horribly slow why is it why is it you don’t see that you think its fast just letting you know if you don’t fix

yankeesusa

What? Can you rewrite this in english please.

txbluesman

Does Google Translate work on that language? LOL.

Bpear96

this comment hurts my brain..

Bpear96

whoops.. meant the one above it

thel0nerang3r

English is a difficult language to grasp.

klotz

Yea, reminds me of this kid.

txbluesman

That is great!

sirromac

No LTE in dallas, check with other people and sprint stores, no one is picking up LTE…I have evo
4g LTE

Jake

Not sure about the city of Dallas, but Lewisville TX has LTE coverage – I’m able to get it on my GNex

Hugh

Is this the reason why I cannot use my Virgin Mobile phone in the 77096 area code while at Target in Houston since last Thursday. Team members like myself are unable to use their Sprint or Boost phones while at work only. Target also installed Wi Fi at the job but i am not sure what is responsible for our phones being completely out of service once we arrive to work. Let’s see what happens when I return to work this morning. I might have to return my andoid(still under 90 day warranty) if this keeps up.

SGB101

Ting. Com piggy backs on sprint, if I was in the US and a sprint area I’d Defo be thinking of swapping. We have something similar in UK called giff gaff.

http://www.technogasms.com Sean Riley

Ting is a great concept, but at least at the moment they don’t have any devices that run on Sprint’s LTE network.

SGB101

didnt know that, is it just 3g atm?

over in uk we only have 3g/HSPDA so never thought of the 4G side of things. i can only dream of it atm!!!

Nathan bartell

I know that it’s kc, KS but I’m just over the state line in the heart of kc, MO and I don’t have any LTE :-(

http://www.technogasms.com Sean Riley

That seems to be a common theme in the launch areas even without a state boundary in place so don’t feel like you are being singled out.

http://www.technogasms.com Sean Riley

I almost forgot you guys are getting the Google Fiber later this month so I’m not sure I can muster sympathy for you. ;)

Jared

4G popped up for me yesterday 20 miles east of downtown KC, MO. It seems to be a small coverage area (my couch) but, the speeds look pretty good. 6113 kbps down and 3134 kbps up!

cyclejoc

They make it sound like the entire city (Atlanta) has it. I drove around yesterday and got 4G in a small pocket in Sandy Springs.